Want to know how you can help?

Stop back to this page frequently and check for the latest updates and action alerts. Contacting your local, state, and federal legislators can have a powerful impact. When the AWF identifies threats to wildlife or habitats we may urge you to take action by writing letters to the editors, by calling or emailing our elected officials. We'll even make it easier for you... when we have issues we're working to address, we'll post a list of talking points and a template here for you to use.

There is strength in numbers. Let’s join together and make sure our messages are heard!

Arkansas is home to 32 threatened and endangered (T&E) species that need your help. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, recently introduced in the U.S. House would provide over 15 million dollars annually to support Arkansas's effort to save the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and the other 32 species from extinction. Take Action here: https://online.nwf.org/site/Advocacy…

Less then two days into the 115th Congress, the House of Representatives already is working to take away our public lands and dismantle historic conservation efforts.

Just yesterday, the House capped its first day with a vote to give away America’s public lands and waters, recalculating the costs of public lands transfers and easing current restrictions for shifting their oversight to individual states or private interests.

America’s public lands are under attack by a well-funded campaign that seeks to transfer most of them to state and private interests for disposal. The effort is being driven by radical groups such as the American Lands Council (ALC) and their allied lawmakers.

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, has been leading this effort in Congress. He has assembled a “congressional team” of like minded lawmakers to “develop a legislative framework for transferring public lands to local ownership and control.” He also plans to advance legislation soon that would seize most public lands in Utah for private use.

As Americans, we share a rich natural heritage of spectacular public lands—parks, forests, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and other special places—that refresh and inspire us. These lands provide recreational opportunity, wildlife habitat, and educational resources. They supply vital water resources and generate well over $600 billion in sustainable economic growth.

We all own this uniquely American endowment thanks in large part, to the vision and stewardship ethic of great leaders like Theodore Roosevelt.

“I do not intend that our natural resources should be exploited by the few against the interests of the many.” –Theodore Roosevelt

SAMPLE LETTER:

I care deeply about our nation’s public lands and the role they play in providing all Americans with recreation and enhancing our quality of life. I am writing to urge you to vigorously oppose any legislation to transfer our nation’s public lands, which currently belong to all of us, to state and private interests.

Radical groups such as the American Lands Council and their allies in Congress are seeking a complete reversal of Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation vision and legacy. Their seizure effort would abandon the nation’s well-established and inherently conservative land conservation ethic. It would also squander a natural endowment—and more than a century’s worth of public investment—intended to benefit our children.

Their agenda includes land transfer legislation, such as Bishop’s yet to be introduced “Utah Public Lands Initiative” or Representative Mark Amodei’s (R-NV) HR 1484 that would cede “all right and title” of national public lands in Nevada to the state.

It also includes legislation in both the House and Senate to undermine the 1906 Antiquities Act, a bedrock conservation law that was written by a Republican, passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by Roosevelt, a Republican president. The Antiquities Act is responsible for protecting the Grand Canyon, California’s giant redwoods, the Tetons and many other American treasures, both natural and historic.

As Americans, we share a rich natural heritage of spectacular public lands—parks, forests, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and other special places. These protected lands provide recreational opportunity, wildlife habitat, and education. They refresh and inspire us. They also supply vital water resources and generate well over $600 billion in sustainable economic growth.

We all own this uniquely American endowment thanks largely to the vision and stewardship ethic of great conservative leaders like Theodore Roosevelt. It is worth pointing out that every Republican president since has followed in his footsteps and added to that land conservation legacy.

Please stand with Theodore Roosevelt and real conservatism. Oppose these radical efforts to give away and exploit our natural heritage. I’m counting on you to protect our nation’s endowment of public lands, and to ensure that these lands continue to belong to all Americans. Thank you for considering my views and please let me know where you stand on this matter.

Join other Arkansas Wildlife Federation members in writing letters to the editor and asking candidates for president, as well as candidates for federal/state office, to endorse a statement of support for public lands. In so doing, these candidates would declare opposition to any large-scale sales or transfer of ownership or management of national public lands to state or local governments, or private interests. We must protect our access to these incredible landscapes and sporting opportunities. Stand with us.

Continue the legacy of sportsmen protecting our wildlife and public lands. Take the pledge to protect public lands here: www.nwf.org/pledgeforpubliclands.

Letter to Editor (Template)

American sportsmen and women were the original force behind the creation and protection of our public lands, stepping up and fighting fiercely to protect the forests, mountain ranges and waters that provided habitat for the wildlife and fish they pursued and enjoyed. Thanks to past and ongoing efforts of sportsmen and other conservationists, all Americans benefit from this national heritage. Our public lands are the beloved landscapes where our grandfathers taught us how to fly fish at a hidden spot along a cold mountain stream; where we learned how to track white-tailed deer across densely wooded forests; and where we sit quietly with our dogs and watch raucous flocks of geese rush across the fading skies. But our public lands are under attack from a minority of legislators and private interests who seek to carve up our outdoor legacy and transfer these lands to state and private ownership. The loss of these public lands would lead to the disappearance of places valued by the overwhelming majority of Americans and likely limit or close access to long-enjoyed hunting and fishing areas.

The Arkansas Wildlife Federation, a diverse organization representing sportsmen and women and other recreationists, is asking members of the public and as candidates for federal and state office to sign a statement of principles, www.nwf.org/pledgeforpubliclands, in support of keeping national public lands in public hands. As sportsmen and women, as the historical protectors and advocates of public lands, we must pledge to protect our cherished American birthright.

YOUR NAME

YOUR ORG & TITLE, IF APPLICABLE

YOUR HOMETOWN

Tips for submitting a letter to the editor (LTE):

Submit your letter to one newspaper at a time. Make it original and localized. If there is a National Wildlife Refuge, National Forest, or Park near your town paper, mention it by name. Editors like local news.

Take Action. Write a Letter to the Editor for Wildlife!

A letter to the editor is a short article that gives an opinion on a specific issue. They are quick to write, often relatively easy to have published and are the most widely read section in the paper. Newspapers tend to publish letter to the editor articles that respond to a current issue in the news, or an article that was just published in the paper.

How to Write a Letter to the Editor:

Find a Hook. Use any issue that you just heard about in the local or national news that concerns Arkansas wildlife, public lands or the evironment in general.

Personalize your letter. Explain how the issue affects you and your community, or the wildlife and natural places you care about.

Keep the letter short. under 200 words. Make sure you end with a demand or strong conclusion. Use a few facts and figures to support your argument.

Adopt the proper tone. Be respectful and polite in getting your message across.

Use the "cut and paste" approach. If you have multiple local or regional papers, why not publish your "Letter to the Editor" ten times? If you email it, make sure you send it to each paper individually.

Display authorship. Include your name, address, and a daytime telephone number — papers need to confirm who wrote the article before they will print it.

Pick a great title. Give your letter a title that will draw attention.

Send it out. Get that type-written letter in the mail or email it as soon as you have it done and proofread for errors. Send it to more than one paper to increase your chances of getting published.

Be persistent. If your letter to the editor doesn't get published, after a few days, call the editor and ask them why not. Find out what it would take to get it published next time.

If your letter is published, please email us a link to arkwf@sbcglobal.net or a hard copy to P.O. Box 53380 Little Rock, AR 72215.

Tips:

Most newspapers print their address and instructions for sending Letters to the Editor inside their front page or in the editorial section. You can also search for your paper online, and look for the link on their homepage that says "Contact." Here you can usually find an email address or an online submission form.

If you have trouble finding an email or postal address, please contact info@nwa.orgwith the name of your paper and we'll help you find it.

If you get a letter published, make sure to send a copy to the office of your public official. This is a great way to show them that your issue is important to the community they serve.